Apex Patch 1.33: Revenant Buffed, Duos Added

The Old Ways Event from April 7th-21st brings with it critical balance changes as part of patch 1.33, the biggest of which sees Revenant get a sorely needed buff. Elsewhere, Lifeline was given a new secondary passive and the Evo Armor gets an upgrade.

Duos has also been added as a permanent game mode, along with a permanent map rotation, giving players a chance to play Duos or Trios on Kings Canyon and World’s Edge.

Legend Changes

Revenant

Revenant was a flash in the pan, to say the least in the eyes of Apex gamers, but it did not go unnoticed. “Player feedback that Revenant wasn’t feeling viable enough has been loud and clear and game data showed the same,” said EA in the official patch announcement post. “Our goal is to bring his effectiveness up to parity with other Legends.”

Revenant has struggled to be viable since release due to the underwhelming impact of his tactical ability Silence, which came with a hefty cooldown but brief duration. Likewise his ultimate Death Totem did grant allies a second life, but at the cost of not being able to use healing items and all damage received as a Shadow ignoring their Body Shields.

Fortunately, both of these abilities have been buffed in patch 1.33, on top of Revenant no longer being Low Profile, meaning he will no longer take the 5% incoming damage increase for being “more difficult to hit”. This is especially good as limb shots on Low Profile legends in 1.33 now deal as much damage as body shots.

• Silence
  • Increased duration of status effect from 10s -> 20s
    • Silence now disables Gibraltar’s Gun Shield
    • Increased the duration of area of effect from 5s -> 10s
    • Silence has 2 charges now
• Death Totem
  • Characters are now respawned with 50 health (or whatever health they had when they activated it, if lower) instead of 1

Silence now lasts twice as long and comes with 2 charges, just like Bangalore’s Smoke Launcher. Silence also now disables Gibraltar’s Gun Shield, the only passive to be affected by the skill. Meanwhile Death Totem will now no longer respawn players at just 1 hp, meaning no more instant deaths to Caustic’s Gas Traps.

Wraith & Lifeline

Lifeline

The only other legends to receive direct changes are Wraith and Lifeline. Lifeline’s change will allow her to discover hidden loot in the new Blue Bins, allowing her to have more impact in kitting and protecting allies outside of three-drop ultimate Care Package.

• New secondary passive: Lifeline can access secret compartments with more loot on Blue Bins.
• Blue bins are found randomly replacing ordinary bins. These rare bins will have a secondary compartment that only Lifeline can open.
• The secondary compartment will always contain some mixture of health items, weapon attachments and knockdown shields.

Wraith

Players who have been abusing Wraith’s portal end game to avoid damage and outlive their enemies will be sad to know that EA have stomped their foot down. Portals which have both ends outside the circle will now disappear, which should encourage more gunplay and less cowardice.

• Portals will now disappear after four seconds if both ends are outside the Circle. This change was made to combat players exploiting the Portal to avoid taking damage outside the Ring.

WEAPON TWEAKS

G7 Scout

• Reduced headshot scale from 2.0 -> 1.75.
• Reduced leg shot scale from 0.9 -> 0.75.
• Slightly reduced projectile speed.

L-STAR

• LSTAR will reset its viewkick pattern much more quickly to avoid horizontal recoil feeling like it goes in an unpredictable direction while feathering the trigger.
• Reduced time before overheat 2.4 -> 2.2 (25 shots -> 23 shots)

Kraber

• Increased headshot damage multiplier from 2.05 -> 3.0. Now it should always down a target with a headshot, even if they are a fortified character with a level three helmet and a full EVO shield.

Sniper Ammo

• Reduced ammo per pickup from 10 -> 8
• Reduced inventory stack size from 20 -> 16

EVO ARMOR

For patch 1.33 The EVO Armor, which was added to the common loot pool after the Deja Loot gamemode back in March, received a noteworthy buff. The armor, which increases in levels based on damage dealt, will now level up much quicker. EVO Armor remains the only way to obtain Red Armor, which grants an additional +125 health.

• Blue Armor damage requirement reduced from 100 -> 75
• Purple Armor damage requirement reduced from 300 -> 150
• Red Armor damage requirement reduced from 500 -> 400

With Duos now no longer a limited-time event and players no longer forced to play only one map, it might be time to revisit Apex Legends with your pals.